Hi Legion,

Along with speed and stamina, courage or fighting qualities as you called it are the three ingredients of class and my methods take into account all three. Courage isn't something you can quantify in a rating but it factors in to your overall assessment of a horse, particularly when deciding if it can repeat its previous best runs.

I'm not sure how you come to the view that VV has great fighting qualities, the very fact that she has continued to win so easily (as you also said) means in my opinion that we don't really know yet. We certainly didn't see many fighting qualities on the weekend but it's all very well and good to say that after the race :smile:

I thought Private Steer ran a very good race. The comment someone made about Private Steer needing more ground is plain wrong. She wasn't seasoned enough to step up over 1600m. She was at only her fourth race start and it is a very rare horse that can compete over 1600m at that level after so few starts. Its a certainty that they can't complete over more than 1600m after so few starts so she certainly doesn't need more ground. She needs more time.

She showed me enough in that run to back up the sensational speed and pace she ran in her previous two. That suggests she has massive potential. Like all good young horses she needs to develop and show she can get stronger to go on and run even faster. I will make a prediction though that come this time next year, Private Steer will be the best Mare racing in Australia.